Adventure Inward by Morton T Kelsey

Publisher: Fortress Press 1980

It wouldn't be to much of an exaggeration to say that is very much a practical manual on journaling as a spiritual discipline. Its chapter on the possible dangers in journaling is of great help. Whilst the book can just as easily be read and appreciated by someone from a non religious background it is a good guide for Christians. He understands that the journal, in this regard, is not the end but the means to the end, the scaffolding around the construction of our relationship with God. I don’t think his conclusion that those who can read and write will never come to the depth of relationship with God that is there for them if they do not write a journal.

He also issues a warning that the keeping of a journal will not in and of itself develop our relationship with God unless we are willing to put into practice the insights we have arrived at in the process of reflection. Writing,

‘One can keep an exciting and delightfully written record of one’s inner life, and it can still end in a dead-end street religiously. It may be playful, charming, full of fun, and yet come in the end to despair and disillusionment. If one knows how to follow playfulness and humor God, one can find the way; but this road does not inevitably lead there. The great existential writers like Camus and Sartre lead usually to despair.’ (page 29).

He rightly believes that God has placed within us all the potential for growth in relationship with Him as well as our own personal growth, through that relationship, in order that we attain the full measure of sons and daughters in Christ that He desires us to be.